Mohamed Salah’s camp has denied claims the Liverpool star turned down a move to Real Madrid in 2018.
Former Egypt international Hany Ramzy, who also served as assistant coach to the national team, said on Saturday that Salah had discussed an approach from Madrid during a training camp in Switzerland in March 2018, not long before Egypt's appearance at the World Cup in Russia.
Ramzy told an Egyptian television station that he was present and privy to a conversation that also included then-Egypt manager Hector Cuper, stating Salah decided to remain at Liverpool despite having a “really good offer” from the Bernabeu club.
At the time, Salah was enjoying a breakout debut season with Liverpool and eventually finished the campaign with 32 goals – to seal the Premier League’s Golden Boot. Liverpool and Madrid would meet that May in the Uefa Champions League final.
However, taking to social media on Sunday, Salah’s chief adviser Ramy Abbas dismissed Ramzy’s comments, saying: "Mohamed never discussed any career plans with any ex-coach.”
Salah, 27, has been often linked with a transfer to La Liga despite becoming one of the Premier League leaders’ most prominent stars. Since joining Liverpool from Roma in 2017, the forward has scored 91 goals in 144 appearances, winning the English top flight's Golden Boot in successive seasons.
At present, Liverpool sit 25 points clear at the top of the table, with the league to meet on Monday to discuss a possible return to training and a push towards a resumption of action. The competition was halted in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Notable Yas events in 2017/18
October 13-14 KartZone (complimentary trials)
December 14-16 The Gulf 12 Hours Endurance race
March 5 Yas Marina Circuit Karting Enduro event
March 8-9 UAE Rotax Max Challenge
57%20Seconds
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Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier
Results
UAE beat Saudi Arabia by 12 runs
Kuwait beat Iran by eight wickets
Oman beat Maldives by 10 wickets
Bahrain beat Qatar by six wickets
Semi-finals
UAE v Qatar
Bahrain v Kuwait
Switching%20sides
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Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
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